Bombay High Court
DIPAK VIJAY RATHOD AND OTHERSversusTHE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THR. THE SECRETARY AND OTHERS
- Disposal
- Disposed Off
Holding
The order rejecting the appointment proposal is set aside to the extent it denied a hearing, and the Education Officer must provide an opportunity to cure the deficiencies and decide the matter afresh.
Summary
The petitioners sought individual approval for the appointment of petitioner No.1 as Junior Clerk in a secondary school, but the Education Officer rejected the proposal on grounds of deficiencies without giving the management an opportunity to remedy them. The petitioners filed a writ petition challenging the order as violative of natural justice. The High Court examined the order and found that the officer had denied a chance to cure the deficiencies, thereby breaching procedural fairness. Consequently, the Court quashed the portion of the order that rejected the proposal and directed the Education Officer to allow a hearing and give the management two weeks to address the deficiencies. The officer was further instructed to decide the application afresh, include the petitioner’s name in the Shalarth Pranali, issue a Shalarth ID within three weeks, and pay any salary arrears within four weeks. The petition was disposed with these directions.
Issues considered
- Whether the Education Officer's rejection of the appointment proposal without affording a chance to cure deficiencies violates principles of natural justice
- Whether the order rejecting the proposal is liable to be quashed
Subjects
- natural justice
- procedural fairness
- appointment
- education officer
- writ petition
- quashing order
- salary arrears
- administrative law
Judgment
65-WP-13092-2025.doc
Digitally signed
by HARISH IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
HARISH VITHAL
VITHAL CHAUDHARI
CHAUDHARI Date: CIRCUIT BENCH AT KOLHAPUR
2026.08.20
10:44:45 +0530
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION NO. 13092 OF 2025
Dipak Vijay Rathod And Others ...Petitioners.
Versus
The State Of Maharashtra
Thr. The Secretary And Others ...Respondents.
——————
Mr. Prashant Bhavake for the Petitioners.
Mr. Siddheshwar B. Kalel AGP for the Respondent-State.
——————
Coram : Sharmila U. Deshmukh &
Neeraj P. Dhote, JJ.
Date : August 19, 2026.
P. C. :
1. By the present petition, an exception is taken to the order dated
11.07.2025 passed by the Education Oicer, rejecting the proposal
submitted by petitioner Nos. 2 and 3 seeking individual approval for the
appointment of petitioner No. 1 to the post of Junior Clerk in the
petitioner No. 3-Secondary School.
2. We have perused the impugned order dated 11.07.2025. The
Education Oicer has enumerated several deiciencies and rejected the
Petitioners’ proposal, however, this was done without granting any
opportunity to the management to comply with the deiciencies.
3. As no opportunity was given to the management to cure the
Harish 1 of 2
65-WP-13092-2025.doc
deiciencies, we are inclined to quash and set aside the order of
11.07.2025 to the extent that it rejects the proposal of the Petitioners.
4. The management to comply with the deiciencies set out in the
impugned order within a period of two weeks from today.
5. The Education Oicer to give an opportunity of hearing to the
management and/or the Petitioner in the event he is not satisied with
the explanation and/or the documents submitted by the management.
After hearing the parties as indicated above, the Education Oicer to
decide the application afresh.
6. The petition is disposed of in the above terms.
7. In the event the approval is granted, Respondent No. 4 -Deputy
Director of Education to take steps for including the Petitioner’s name
in the Shalarth Pranali and issue the Shalarth ID within a period of three
weeks thereafter. The arrears of salary are to be paid within a period of
four weeks thereafter.
[Neeraj P. Dhote, J.] [Sharmila U. Deshmukh, J.]
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